Two Grad Students Rise to Design Showdown Challenge

May 11, 2015

A design evocative of a Russian fairy tale and another geared to the needs of an aging couple won accolades for two graduate students in the interior architecture program at Suffolk’s New England School of Art & Design.

Gabriela Camacho’s fairy tale condo was first runner-up in the Design Showdown competition devised by Design New England and the Boston Design Center, and Lauren Gifford won the People’s Choice Award with a traditional design that included wide corridors and other features that would allow for the use of a wheelchair.

More than 40 students entered the competition to design a space in a Newbury Street duplex, and the eight finalists had to present their detailed plans before an audience.

Camacho and Gifford were among three whose designs—including scale drawings, fabric swatches and furnishings—were featured in the glossy magazine.